Skrillex makes unforgettable return to New York at Brooklyn's Avant Gardner [Event Review]

On Wednesday, October 26th, Skrillex made an unforgettable return to New York after nearly five years with the help of Wax Motif and Noodz and even a surprise appearance from Benny Benassi at Brooklyn’s Avant Gardner.  After being slated for only a handful of shows since the beginning of the pandemic, many swarmed from the tri-state area to welcome Skrillex back to New York and to the stage with arms stretched as far as the eye could see.

Noodz, a San Francisco native that packs a punch, kicked off the sold-out show with familiar grooves by interweaving hard-hitting house tracks with emo-era throwbacks like ‘Sugar, We’re Goin Down’ by Fall Out Boy and ‘Killing In The Name’ by Rage Against The Machine.  Up next was Wax Motif who not only prepped and primed the stage for the one and only, but solidified the crowd with nonstop action. Beat after beat, Wax was in control and not a soul in The Great Hall of Avant Gardner felt otherwise. Motif dropped some fan favorites such as his single ‘Keep Raving‘, ‘Hard Street’, his collaboration with ALRT and Nessly, and also included Chris Lorenzo‘s new track ‘California Dreamin”.

“The energy in Brooklyn is amazing and to open up for Skrillex is unreal and unforgettable.” Motif told We Rave You.

Skrillex came out on the stage almost as quickly as this event sold out as if he just couldn’t wait to get his hands on the deck.  His set opened up with the viral song from Netflix‘s Squid Game called ‘Pink Soliders’. If you’re not familiar with the show, the song is an ominous cliff-hanger of sorts that plays whenever the contestants of the “game” are put in eerie and perhaps life-altering situations. A fitting song for the occasion, as no one knew what Skrillex would play that night.  Some speculated a Dog Blood-esque set, others speculated a house-heavy montage, or perhaps some riffs of his new releases that are arguably genre-less. But, if there’s one thing that’s certain about Skrillex sets, it’s that you never know what you’re going to get, however, you’re going to listen from beginning to end.

Almost no one was prepared for what was about to come from the master himself. From the second the decks started spinning, the crowd was in awe of what Skrillex had cooked up. From brand new face-melting ID’s, to throwback Skrillex tracks and remixes like ‘Cinema’ by Benny Benassi, who wrote the legendary track and was even a surprise guest of the evening. Others included ‘Purple Lamborghini’, Kendrick Lamar‘s ‘HUMBLE.’, ‘Ruffneck’, and ‘Burial’ with YOGI, Pusha T, and Moody Good.  He also included his newer tracks like ‘Don’t Go’ with Justin Bieber and Don Toliver, ‘Mumbai Power’, ‘In Da Getto’ with J. Balvin, and ‘Butterflies’ with Four Tet, who’s slated to play at the same venue in a few weeks.

The set itself was unimaginable from start to finish, a well-deserved homage to a crowd who has waited patiently for the next nearby Skrillex show days on end. He’s certainly made up for the lost time to his fans of New York. And respectively, like a good friend, it felt like he never left and we picked up right where we all left off.

See the entire Skrillex setlist here. Someone also captured the full set in all of its glory, which you can see below.

Image Credit: Avant Gardner Twitter